The Cow Patti Theatre in Lacombe is working on plans for their 25th season after their 24th season was cut short after only 8 shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Artistic Producing Director for Cow Patti AnnaMarie Lea says they were on track for a record-breaking year as far as attendance goes when the pandemic hit.

She says they now they have to figure how to put on their plays while following public health protocols and making sure both the audience and their actors are kept safe.

“Over the last few months I’ve been in conversations with the actors… crunching numbers, creating a budget, how do we dig ourselves out of the hole financially, how do we move forward? Having conversation with the Lacombe Golf and Country Club, we got a lot of support there. How do we redo this? First and foremost, the theatre is a place where one gathers. We can’t lose that, we can’t change that. We can change the numbers, we can change the distance between patrons, we can ask people to wear a mask.”

Lea says since their seats are not fixed to the floor, they have much more flexibility in terms of social distancing, and she hopes to be one of the first playhouses in Canada to turn the lights back on.

“Even though we are moving into our 25th season, I feel like it, it’s almost like I’m starting up a brand new company, you know? As far as, are people going to come? Is this going to work? Am I going to be able to afford to advertise and market it? And all of those things. So instead of being scared of that, I’m kind of taking that as a challenge

She says they plan to remount their production of Norm Foster’s Lunenburg this fall, which only contains three actors in total, and they plan to isolate the actors in an "NHL style" bubble. Two of three actors are from Toronto, and Lea, who is the third actor in the play, says they will likely have to isolate with her for two weeks when they arrive.

For more information on the upcoming Cow Patti Theatre season and how they plan to safely roll out the entertainment, you can click here to go to their website, cowpatti.com.